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We Score and Score and Score and Score and Fight!

It’s been an exciting season already in the NBA, and it only started a couple weeks ago. Chauncey and Rip and Tayshaun had manly crying time, Dwight scored a triple double (with blocks!), the Hawks were undefeated, and the Rockets and the Suns got in a huge fistfight that did not involve Ron Artest, among others. The last week’s biggest headlines – illustrated, naturally – are just a jump away.

In a blatantly obvious excuse to show more pictures of Dwight Howard and his musculature, our first story is his stat line last night: 30 points, 19 rebounds, 3 assists – and 10 blocks. Once Dwight becomes the pure man he is destined to be – if he ever stops being ridiculous, that is, and I mean that in the best way – he could be one of the most dangerous players in the league. Alongside being one of the most attractive, of course.

As pretty a face as Dwight has...it's not necessary.

Know who else is astonishingly attractive and had a ridiculously good game this week? Al Horford! The second-year starter had a career night of 27 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 blocks, leading the then-unbeaten Atlanta Hawks to a win over Chicago. His ex-teammate and BFF, Joakim Noah, was also starting, and had a horrific statistical night. There’s some sort of irony there.

This picture is not from that game. But, oh, isn't it a lovely picture?

In one of the surprises of the early season, the Atlanta Hawks were alongside the LA Lakers as the only unbeaten teams in the league. That ended a couple of night ago in a one-point loss against the Boston Celtics. As both Kevin Garnett and Al Horford are on my fantasy basketball team – and hot – this is relevant to my interests.

The Lakers, however, show little sign of slowing down. They utterly beat down the Chris Paul Hornets last night, preserving their perfect record. They’re beating teams by an average of around 20 points, and, unless Kobe, Andrew Bynum, or Pau Gasol go down, that train is not going to be derailed. Book it.

No, Pau, quit it, he's ours...

In rookie news, surprisingly, almost all of the top of this year’s rookie class is doing well and making meaningfull contributions to their teams. OJ Mayo is putting the crowd at FreeDarko through conniptions. This is a perfect excuse to show a picture of OJ Mayo who, as we have established, I have a huge crush on.

Mmm, smart, effective rookies. I think I'll have to fight Ziller and Shoals for him.

My boy Beasley’s doing pretty well, too, and Derrick Rose is – as could be expected – one of the few bright spots in the Chicago Bulls’ immediate future. Since Kirk Heinrich, my guilty crush, went and injured himself, the point-guard logjam in Chicago has cleared for starter minutes for Rose. Since I can’t really decide who of these players to spotlight, I’m going to throw you Rose – he’s earned it.

Twice the hot point-guard action in one shot! Who says Nash isn't athletic?

Now, the big story from the night before last is the not-epic brawl between the T-Mac-Yao-Artest Rockets and the Nash-Amare-Shaq Suns. (A better run-down than I could give is up at the Fanhouse.) Interestingly, it was not started by any of those players I just mentioned: it began when protective Matt Barnes took out his frustration about ill-treatment of His Star Point Guard with a hard check on mouthy little Rafer Alston. Rafer, of course, is not down with that shit.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present what happens when boys that are into the rough stuff meet.

And what happened after that? Why, everyone dives in (except Ron Artest!), T-Mac shoves Steve Nash to the ground, and all hell breaks loose.

Ah, boys.

This picture speaks for itself.

By the end of it, seven technicals had been issued, and two players – Matt Barnes and Rafer Alston, of course – had been ejected. It barely effected the game, resulting in only one technical free throw from Yao and a comfortable win for the Rockets. And after all that, I only like the players involved more. God, I love basketball.

On that note, fair readers, I leave you. Have a great weekend!

(Edit: before I forget, you should definitely consider getting the FreeDarko book, the Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac. I have heard only good things from sources I trust, like TrueHoop and the Basketball Jones. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re into basketball and possess any sort of artistic mindset, because it’s beautiful both in its illlustrations and its treatment of the NBA.)